‘It’s much more than just a crackdown on democracy’
Hong Kong arrests ordain dark chapter
OTTAWA • Dozens of democracy activists in Hong Kong were arrested Wednesday, as China moves to further erode the independent status of the city.
“It’s much more than just a crackdown on democracy. It’s actually a crackdown on how we perceive Hong Kong,” said Cherie Wong, executive director of the Alliance Canada Hong Kong. She said if China wasn’t challenged soon, Hong Kong would just be another city in the country without any of the freedoms people there enjoy.
Canada’s foreign minister, François- Philippe Champagne, said the news was troubling and not in the spirit of the treaty that promised Hong Kong autonomy when it became part of China.
“It is very concerning and to me it is yet another bad example of the further erosion of the one country, two systems.”
Champagne touted Canada’s previous actions on the file, including ending the extradition treaty and restricting imports to Hong Kong. He did not announce any new sanctions or other measures in response to the arrest. He said he had been speaking with allies about what should happen next, but was noncommittal.
“I’ve been in contact with our allies this morning, and we’ll be following the situation carefully. As you know we have a vested interest in what’s going on in Hong Kong. We have about 300,000 Canadians,” he said.
China has also been holding two Canadians hostage for more than two years, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested here on a U.S. extradition warrant.
Champagne said it was important for western nations to denounce the arrests in Hong Kong together.
“We will certainly come with one voice to express in no uncertain terms what we are seeing by China, undermining the pillars that have made Hong Kong what it is.”
The Hong Kong police on Wednesday rounded up more than 50 activists, former lawmakers and academics, as well as an American rights lawyer, in a series of morning raids across the former British colony involving more than 1,000 officers.
All had helped organize an unofficial primary in July to nominate opposition candidates for a legislative election that was later postponed.
Wong said just organizing the primary while the Chinese were attempting to crush the city’s independence was incredibly difficult and it was heartbreaking that the activists were arrested.
“It was a very powerful move that activists were able to pull off and with this arrest, it’s very clear that there is no room for any shred of democracy, any shred of autonomy.”
The crackdown was the largest to date in a single day under a Beijing- drafted national security law that carries sentences as long as life in prison, shocking even for a city where opposition figures have increasingly found themselves facing criminal charges for attending protests, holding banners or getting into legislative chamber scuffles. Those arrested included former law professor Benny Tai, who helped organize the primary.
The action showed how much Chinese President Xi Jinping has tipped the balance of power back to the government after a historic wave of democracy protests gripped Hong Kong for months last year. Xi has marched ahead with efforts to quash the city’s opposition, despite international condemnation
Wong said the people arrested Wednesday were not just activists for democracy in Hong Kong, but for their communities and marginalized people. She said arresting them did tremendous damage to the infrastructure of a possible democratic movement.
She said she worried that having arrested the candidates in the primary, the Chinese government would now target the people who voted in it.
“Our worry is that all the people who voted in the Democratic primaries are also going to face some sort of persecution, after the fact,” she said. “They are now gathering all of the data, gathering all the information from the Democratic primary.”
She said western countries needed to take a tough stance.
“This is the defining moment of whether or not the international community is going to move beyond their empty words and actually hold the Chinese and Hong Kong government accountable,” she said. “If they don’t do anything, now, today, there is no future for Hong Kong.”
She called on the government to use Magnitsky Act sanctions and to open up more immigration paths for people in Hong Kong to come to Canada.
“We have the tools in our tool belt, it’s a matter of using them.”
There are an estimated 300,000 Canadians living in Hong Kong and Wong said with these arrests it may not be safe for them.
She said people living there need assurance from the Canadian government that they would be able to get home and also that their family members, who may not be Canadian citizens, would also have support.
“It’s important for Canadians in Hong Kong to know that if they want to come home, if they want to leave, that they will be able to, along with their family members.”
another bad example of the further erosion of the one country, two systems.